Fire crews battling clutter along with the flames

Firefighters and others line the street as a firetruck bearing the body of Lt. Gordon Ambelas leaves the funeral service Thursday in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Ambelas died searching for victims in a burning, cluttered Brooklyn high-rise apartment building.(Photo: Seth Wenig/AP)

NEW YORK – Another danger lurked as fire and smoke swept through the upper floors of a Brooklyn public housing high-rise: junk.

The 19th-floor apartment where the blaze started last weekend was piled with it, fire officials said, creating a minefield that's being looked at as a potential factor in the death of a New York City firefighter, the department's first in the line of duty in more than two years.

Lt. Gordon Ambelas' death July 5 came amid what some officials say is an uptick in fire calls complicated by clutter, conditions the FDNY code names "Collyer's Mansion" after the 1947 case of two brothers found dead amid floor-to-ceiling clutter in their Harlem brownstone.

Up to 5 percent of the population has a hoarding disorder, the American Psychiatric Association estimates, and firefighters say it shows up when entryways, hallways and rooms are blocked by piles of stuff — electronics, clothes, boxes, papers and garbage.

"We find it more common today because people have more possessions," said New York Assistant Chief Jim Hodgens, who heads the city's fire academy. "People have two, three TVs. People have more clothes today. I think as a society we have more stuff. … It complicates the search."

The U.S. Fire Administration does not track hoarding-related fires, nor does the National Fire Protection Association. But there is no shortage of news accounts of fires where junk played a role.

This week, a woman died in a blaze that tore through a New Jersey row house where firefighters had a hard time reaching her second-floor bedroom because of clutter on the stairs.

In Portland, Oregon, in April, neighbors couldn't save an elderly man in his burning home because he had too much junk blocking the doors. Fire officials said they were hampered by "extreme clutter/hoarding conditions."

Privacy laws and red tape prevent authorities from fully knowing or understanding the dangers of their buildings and neighborhoods. Fire departments can inspect commercial structures but are often powerless to check residences for hazards.

"We can't just go in and tell someone to clean their apartment," said New York Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon.

Instead, they have focused on training firefighters for the Collyer's Mansion call, with its potential for more intense heat and faster-spreading flames.

The FDNY recreates cluttered conditions at its fire academy and updates firefighters on the latest tactics. Among them: If a door is blocked, cut through an adjoining wall. And it is "extremely hazardous" to climb atop debris because it could inadvertently lead them out a window. Other departments have implemented similar protocols.

New York fire officials declined to discuss the fire that killed Ambelas in detail, citing an ongoing investigation, but did acknowledge the apartment was "heavily cluttered with debris and belongings."

The fire department did not say whether it was aware the apartment was cluttered before the fire started, apparently from a pinched air conditioner cord. The New York City Housing Authority, the owner of the 21-story Brooklyn building, would not answer the question either, citing the investigation.

The tenant, 51-year-old Angel Pagan, was not at home when the fire began. A telephone number for him was repeatedly busy. In interviews after the fire, he expressed sympathy to Ambelas' family. He denied that the apartment was cluttered to excess.

Neighbor Noreida Santiago, 64, said Pagan's apartment was "full of stuff," including multiple air conditioners and furnishings he got on the street.